SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: Delighted to introduce Kristopher Zgorski, of Bolo Books. While I read many book blogs, I must confess that I've often felt that Kristopher and I must have been separated at birth — our opinions on books are that similar. So I know if Kristopher really loves something — whether it's a book, film, or TV show, odds are really, really, really high I'll love it, too. (Um, hello FOX's Empire, which I wouldn't have seen without Kristopher's high recommendation!)
Kristopher, with all the books in the world you could choose, how do you pick which ones to review?
Kristopher Zgorski: As a book blogger, I am often asked how I choose which books
I am going to read and review.
I should first say that I do not review every book I read. In
fact, I would say that only roughly 1/3 of the books I read in a given year end
up being reviewed. Because I want BOLO Books to remain a positive place which
encourages reading, I really only review books that I truly enjoyed and feel
completely comfortable recommending.
But this still does not answer the question at hand.
Given my position as an online advocate for books and
reading, I have to stay on top of the latest industry buzz titles. I do this
via social media, conventions, and digital galley distribution sites. Beyond
that, much of what I glom onto comes via word-of-mouth recommendations.
Let’s look at each of these in a bit more depth:
Social Media: Almost daily, I will hear about a book on
Twitter or Facebook that peaks my interest. Once that happens, I begin to look
into the title further to see if it fits the BOLO Books genre, sounds like
something I will potentially enjoy, and check out the release date. Since I
only review new titles (generally within the first month of release), I am
often able to place that book on my general TBR list rather than the blog list.
I am pretty good at knowing what types of books I will NOT like, so I can
usually avoid them as well.
As an example, I first heard about The Girl on the Train months before it was released. I was
immediately interested and kept the title in mind. Then I heard that galleys
were given out at Theakston’s Old Peculiar conference and I started to make efforts
to obtain an early copy. Ultimately successful, I added the book to the
schedule and waited until it was closer to release date to read it. At that
time, I enjoyed it enough to decide to review it, knowing that it was going to
be a big (and controversial) title.
Online Galley sites
(like NetGalley and Edelweiss):
These sites are for reviewers and librarians. They grant access to
e-versions of titles. Each of these sites has the ability to narrow down the
available titles by genre/topic/publisher, so that makes it manageable. From
there, I often go by author recognition/cover/release date to see what books I
might consider reviewing. Since I am only one person, I am limited to the
number of books I can review in one week. There have been times when I have
done up to three, but I prefer to keep it at one or two. This means that once I
choose some possible books for any given week, I stop requesting titles for
that week, hoping that one of the books I have already chosen will be strong
enough to merit a review. This can backfire, but one has to create a cutoff at
some point.
Notice that I said cover design. I would be lying if I
didn’t admit that sometimes (especially for debut authors), I make a decision
based on cover design. I am certain that I am missing some great titles this
way, but hopefully if that is the case, I will hear about them in another way. (Example,
I passed on Kristi Belcamino’s Blessed
are the Dead because I hated the cover design. Then I met Kristi, was told
by various folks that the book was excellent, and noticed that future cover
designs were improving. I gave the book a shot, loved it, and reviewed it (in
one of the rare cases where I posted a review outside the artificial one month
review window I have set for the blog).
Conventions: It
goes without saying that conferences strongly influence potential reviews on
the blog. I regularly attend Bouchercon
and/or Malice Domestic. There are countless other conferences of interest as
well. Meeting an author or seeing them interact on a panel can cause me to try
a book that I might otherwise have passed on. Also, the swag bags at these
conventions are often filled with advanced copies of books the publishers are
excited about. (Hint: If you are willing to volunteer to help at these cons,
you are often given added perks, so don’t miss out on that opportunity. It’s
also the best way to meet new people who will become future friends).
Word-of-Mouth: I am fortunate to know many folks in the
crime fiction industry – Authors, booksellers, publicists, and fans. Many of them
know my tastes via the blog. They have
no problem saying “have you read so and so?” Since they are blog followers, I
know that typically, they are trying to steer me in the right direction to
something I might otherwise have missed.
Many books I review come to me this way. Please, share the news about
books you love. That is how word-of-mouth momentum works. If you look at a
career like Louise Penny’s, you will see that in the beginning, she was selling
books almost solely on the endorsements of early readers. Once that momentum
began, there was no stopping it and she is now a New York Times bestseller.
So, that’s it in a nutshell. There are many another factors
that can influence the choices I make, but I try to be as willing to help new
authors as I am the already established. But one blog can only do so much. If
you are a fan and want to help out, consider starting a blog, leaving reviews
on other sites, or just spreading the name of new books you have enjoyed. I
know the authors will appreciate it.
SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: Reds and lovely readers, how to you choose what to read next from your TBR pile? Is there a blogger or reviewer out there you rely on? Do you blog and/or review?
Tell us in the comments!
Karin Slaughter's amazing interview with the generous and hilarious Charlaine Harris, Lee Child interviewing Mark Billingham--the coolness level was incalculable.)
